GRRM does a lot of standard lore dumps (“telling”) that aren’t integrated into dialogue or “showing” of any kind - is it just passable if you’re good enough?
It’s the number one criticism you see levelled at people posting here, that they are telling rather than showing.
I know it’s in good spirit most of the time, but it seems quite a misunderstood convention to me at this point.
Tons of the best writers ever including fantasy writers are switching into telling mode CONSTANTLY, and yet it seems many of the posts here it’s picked up on as a cardinal sin of writing and called out to the high heaven.
I’m not saying that it’s not an obvious beginners mistake to over tell - but a lot of the culture here seems to be calling out telling as a device in general, even when it’s integrated alongside plenty of showing.
Is this due to people not producing content that justifies the switch in perspective, or is that a bunch of people here genuinely don’t realise that telling is an important tool to switch up flow and momentum ?
If it’s indeed the later I think that is being poorly communicated at times.